Monday, March 14, 2016

Who else loves Pinkfresh Studio patterned papers as much as I do? That is to say, I adore them. As the name suggests, they are always fresh and come in the best colors! One of my favorite things to do with them is wrap gifts. In fact, this will probably not be my only project this year using the papers as wrapping paper...

My boxes today are small, measuring 2.5" x 3.25" x 1.25", so I trimmed the 12 x 12 stock down to about 8 x 4. Because these papers are thicker than traditional wrapping paper, it's a good idea to have an adhesive that has a great bond--or be prepared to use lots and lots of cello tape! (*My favorite tape to use is Super Tape, which is very strong and double sided.)

I liked the bold, almost Spring-ish hues from the Life Noted papers and chose a few that I thought would look nice together. Yellow was my common color throughout the little packages, either seen on the wrap or used as part of the embellishing.

The graphics on the papers are simple yet striking, not overly ornate or busy, but definitely eye-catching. I set out to create the same traits in the tags. I stuck to simple baker's twines for the trim and used only 2-3 items to make up the package sentiment.

A piece of white cotton fabric with a foiled wood sticker enhances this box by playing on the green shade and the triangle pattern.

Using foam stickers from Felicity, the recipient's initial, E, is clearly visible on a small white tag. I added the "Oh Happy Day" tag by trimming down a strip of the LN washi.

This box is really colorful (and was inspired by my second projects in this post, cards). The rubber "smile" charm is matted to an "O" from the yellow puffy alpha stickers. Pink twine wound around the box a few times is a pretty finishing touch.

When wrapping the last box, I positioned the pink stripes right in the center. It almost looks like ribbon, but it's just a design on the paper that separates the two green patterns. To finish, another initial tag, this time paired with a rubber charm tag, are tied on with gray twine.

These were really simple to do and shows that you don't have to spend a ton of time (or money) on involved and expensive gift wrap. Use what you already have on hand and your gifts are sure to be noticed!

I also have two greeting cards to share with you, again using the Life Noted collection. As I mentioned earlier, the little "smile" box was inspired by the colorful cards (I made them first). With Easter around the corner, the yellow, pink, and aqua is so pretty at this time of year.

I needed to make some birthday cards to have on hand and the acetate "Hooray" was the perfect sentiment on my first card. I stitched it to the yellow and white paper and popped the pink "XO" rubber charm to the first O. After I stitched the word to my paper, I folded the rest of the word up to try and add a little dimension.

Borrowing the wood bow banner from Pinkfresh's Happy Things line offers repetition of long, narrow elements, especially when it's sitting atop long and skinny swatches of pink fabric and cream lace. (And don't forget the hint of aqua triangle paper peeking out from behind the yellow!)

I used a couple of 3 x 4 pocket cards on this card. A problem I have when I use mostly paper elements on projects is that they tend to look flat so I always add texture wherever I can without overwhelming the piece. Here I used fabric, glitter, stitching, a doily, lace, and even the aqua paperclip. The result is a card that has depth and dimension and LOTS of texture.

I borrowed again from Happy Things to make the black bow on the pink box stand out with a glittery foam sticker bow. Thanks to Felicity, I used a silver foam asterisk. It's always nice to have a little shine!

Thanks for spending your time with me today; I hope you got a few ideas on fun ways to use your patterned papers!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Happy March, my friends! I'm so excited to bring you my first works from the new Gossamer Blue kits. The kits this month include coveted collections by Maggie Holmes (Crate Paper), Pink Paislee, Shimelle, and My Mind's Eye. Of course there are also the awesome LP cards, stamps, and wood pieces made especially for the GB kits, too. These kits are going to go fast, I have a feeling, so you probably want to hurry on over to their shop and grab all the things before that happens!

Staying true to myself, I made another bunch of tags. It was so easy to do this month, seeing as the kits were full of my favorite things...hot color, classic patterns, bold florals, and bits of gold. I didn't want to stop creating and still have loads of goodies untouched to use on future projects. The only reason I did stop was because I had to photograph and blog about the work!

I'll be sharing my projects bit by bit over the next few days, and throughout the month, but you can always see sneaks in the GB Gallery. Most of my teammates went overboard creating, as well, and there is so much to see and marvel at so I definitely recommend having a look over there when you have a couple hours to spend.

This week, I'll be sharing all the tags I made, starting with this this pair of soft and sweet ones.

I still can't resist a cute deer and the ones found in the Bloom collection are no exception. The die cuts here are all from Bloom and the pack is found in the Bits & Pieces kit. I used a darling Life Pages card as my base, and added a layer of pale pink tulle over it for texture. I've been using these rose glittered clothespins on everything lately (I made those myself). They're so sparkly and feminine and I swear they match everything! And may I just say those cork and glitter hearts are even more stunning in real life?!

The second tag was so simple to make! The base is an Amy Tangerine card and the '---> P.S. I love you' sentiment just happened to exactly match a Maggie Holmes die cut floral so that worked out well. (And the tiny green enamel heart from My Mind's Eye also matched! Serendipitous or popular--I'll let you be the judge ;) The glittered XOXO frame is enough of a statement on it's own, but it also looks pretty here, with the pink and green additions.

I've actually got two more tags in the works to go along with this pair, but I couldn't decide on their finishing touches so they remain incomplete at this time.

I do have 2 other tag trios to reveal later in the week, though, so I hope you'll come back for those. And again, there is inspiration all around--in the GB Gallery, a lot of the girls are sharing projects on their blogs today, and of course, there's the Gossamer Blue Blog itself. Andrea (@retrohipmama) has an incredible post on how to use the printables that are included each month when you subscribe to the kits. I will confess to A.) never having used them because, B.) even though I own a Silhouette, I don't really know how to use it. So I've bookmarked this post and I know I'll be referring back to it over and over again! Silhouetting aside, I'm always here if YOU have questions about anything I've posted, so ask away!

I'll leave you with a peek at a pile of color and shine that's soon to be gracing this space...